Hurricane Florence Update: Fundraising Restriction Lifted

Hurricane Florence was a massive
storm that hit parts of North Carolina and South Carolina, bringing with it
historic amounts of water that caused several areas to have to evacuate more than
once over the past few weeks. In the spirit of the Girl Scout Law, many Girl
Scouts have reached out, asking how they can help their sister Girl Scouts and
their families, as well as our council colleagues and their loved ones, recover
from this natural disaster.

There are several ways you
can contribute to the recovery efforts in these areas. For one, we’ve learned that
when girls experience natural disasters like Florence and are surrounded by
recovery efforts, participating in Girl Scouts can help them and their families
feel some sense of normalcy—so GSUSA, with the strong support of its National
Board, has lifted fundraising restrictions so that girls can raise money to
support membership scholarships for girls at Girl Scouts - North Carolina Coastal
Pines and Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina.

Fundraising efforts will
be undertaken with the sole intention of providing membership scholarships to
impacted girls. Such scholarships typically cover dues as well as uniforms,
credentials (e.g., insignia worn on uniforms), and other Girl Scout materials
that, for many girls at affected councils, have been damaged or destroyed. Note
that anyone can provide this support, not just girls—visit www.girlscouts.org/FlorenceRelief
or text “FlorenceRelief” to 41444 to give to a specific council or choose “other”
to designate how you’d like to direct your donation.

Additionally, the impacted
councils have shared other ways you can aid with their recovery efforts:

Girl
Scouts - North Carolina Coastal Pines, the hardest-hit council (close to
70 percent of its footprint has been declared a federal disaster area) has
listed several things you can do to support Girl Scouts in the
area.

Girl
Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont, which sustained flooding at Keyauwee
Program Center, its camp property in Randolph County, is looking
for volunteer contractors to help rebuild bridges and repair a
dock and roads. The council is also holding a Hurricane Florence
cleanup on Sunday, October 14, at the program center.

We also encourage you to
check out some relevant resources that Girl Scouts offers:

Thank you to the many
girls, colleagues, alums, and families who have reached out and pitched in
already! The impacted councils are grateful for the outpouring of support. We
don’t need a natural disaster to know how strong our Movement is, but it’s
heartening during such times to see our mission in action, as Girl Scouts work together
to make our world a better place.

We're 2.5 million strong—more than 1.7 million girls and 750,000 adults who believe in the power of every G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ to change the world. Since 1912, we’ve built girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.